Random thoughts about children, grandchildren, travel, and life in general from the perspective of an elder...

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

More on Leisure

I'm on day three of this keeping track of my leisure time....did fairly well on Sunday, which, after all, is supposed to be a day of rest anyway. Not so well yesterday. I did count our life group meeting as leisure time because it is something I want to do, enjoy doing, and counts for something besides work.

But one of the things I discovered on Sunday -- and yesterday -- was that when I think about doing something just plain old enjoyable, like reading a novel, I get a bit twitchy. Like I'm not *allowed* for some reason. That I should be doing something productive. And I've been trying to analyze why.

Partly, I think, it was the way I was brought up. I need to check with my sisters about this, but there was something inherently not acceptable about just being lazy, as my parents would have put it. We were generally supposed to be doing SOMETHING. Homework, housework, practicing our music, whatever....but sitting around and reading (yes -- my favorite form of leisure) was to be left until after all the real work was done.

During nursing school and college there was very little leisure time -- homework was always there; I remember saying things like, "If I can only make it until Friday, then I'll be OK"...or, "If I live through all I have to do this weekend, I'll survive." Somehow, we still managed to make our fun, most likely at the expense of our sleep.

Even after I got married, there was always something. It started by realizing that Bob was getting his master's, and since I had nothing to do on Tuesday nights, I may as well go for mine as well. And then I started teaching in the school of nursing which meant there was always something to do in the evenings and on weekends as we spent hours grading care plans and other papers. And so it went....

And now I work out of my home, and as anyone that has a home business knows, that work is never finished. There is always something more to be done.

So -- perhaps this week will help me learn that leisure is not only OK, but it is good. And that I need more of it.